DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
The present application is a National Stage entry of PCT/JP2022/044087, and is accordingly subject to Unity of Invention standards pursuant to 37 C.F.R. 1.499. Although the present claims are drawn to a plurality of inventive groups lacking unity of invention a posteriori, the Examiner finds that there is such significant overlap in claimed subject matter between the inventive groups that no search burden currently exists. Accordingly, a restriction between claims is not being required at this time. However, should Applicants amend the independent claims in such a way that creates a significant search burden, the Examiner retains the discretion to issue a restriction requirement at any time before the final action, as set forth in 37 C.F.R. 1.499.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 7 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The phrase “at least one or more” is redundant. “At least one” inherently implies that more than one can be selected, and “one or more” also carries that same meaning. The Examiner recommends amending claims 1 and 7 to recite either “at least one” or “one or more”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1–12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being fully anticipated by Lee (KR 2019/0108323 A, hereinafter “Lee”).
Regarding claims 1–4, Lee teaches a geopolymer concrete composition comprising powdery components (see generally abstract). Regarding the “hydraulic” limitation of the preamble, it is first noted that “hydraulic” in the context of concretes refers to the ability of a material to set and harden in water. Cement is hydraulic because water reacts with tricalcium silicate to form C-S-H, which contains water molecules that slowly evaporate out over time as the cement sets and hardens. Conversely, geopolymers are generally not considered hydraulic because water is not part of the N-A-S-H gel matrix that forms as alumina and silica are activated and polymerize (see paragraph 0033 teaching an overview of the formation of N-A-S-H). However, Applicants refer to geopolymer compositions as hydraulic in their Specification (see paragraphs 0023 and 0025), and claim a substantially similar composition to Lee. If Applicants consider their own invention to be hydraulic, then Lee’s must be considered hydraulic according to their own disclosure.
Lee further teaches the composition as comprising fly ash and slag fine powders, alkali silicate powder and alkali carbonate powder (see paragraph 0011; “powdered alkaline activator” corresponds to the alkali silicate powder, and paragraph 0039 clarifies that it is sodium silicate powder, wherein sodium is an alkali metal; paragraph 0011 specifically teaches “sodium carbonate” as the alkali carbonate). Because Lee teaches a composition comprising all four powdery raw materials as required by claims 1–4, claims 1–4 are fully anticipated by Lee.
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Lee teaches a hydraulic composition comprising fly ash and slag fine powders, alkali silicate powder, alkali carbonate powder, and water (see paragraph 0011 teaching the powdered components; see paragraph 0019 teaching water).
Regarding claims 7–9, Lee teaches a method for producing a hydraulic composition comprising mixing fly ash and slag fine powders, alkali silicate powder, alkali carbonate powder, and water (see paragraphs 0017–0019). Lee further teaches the limitation of claim 8, wherein the water is mixed after mixing the powdered components (see paragraphs 0017–0019, wherein slag, fly ash and alkali silicate are combined first, then sodium carbonate is mixed in, and then water is mixed in).
Regarding claim 10, Lee teaches a hydraulic composition hardened body which is a hardened body of the hydraulic composition according to claim 5 (see paragraph 0020 teaching the curing of the composition, which is generally synonymous with hardening in geopolymer compositions; also see paragraph 0056 teaching the measurement of compressive strength, which can only be measured on hardened materials).
Regarding claims 11 and 12, Lee teaches a method for producing a hydraulic composition hardened body comprising curing the hydraulic composition according to claim 5 at a temperature range of 5–90 °C, or, in claim 12, a temperature range of 5–35 °C (see paragraph 0059 teaching curing as taking place between 10–30 °C, which falls within the claimed range).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ryan P Loughran whose telephone number is (571)272-2173. The examiner can normally be reached M, Tu, W, F after 5:30 PM and Th from 8 AM to 6 PM.
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/R.P.L./Examiner, Art Unit 1731
/ANTHONY J GREEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1731
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